Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Image. Pictured: Coinbase in New York
Coinbase plans to go public on Wednesday, and as there always is when a company gets valued at an incredible number, the stories shared by those involved are epic.
Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, who started the company with current CEO Brian Armstrong in 2012, stayed on as president until 2017 and is still on the board, shared a brief story on Twitter on Wednesday morning.
“When Brian Armstrong and I started Coinbase in 2012, a Bitcoin was worth $6 and only known by a few nerds on the internet. Bitcoin was the crazy idea that the world could have a digital money for everyone.
“Coinbase had one mission: to make crypto easy to use. Beginnings were not glamorous. Coinbase launched out of a two bedroom apartment we shared with another company. We were far from conventional.
“For our first hire, we selected a whip smart fanatical lumberjack over a Google manager. Over time, crypto grew, and so did the company. A simple Bitcoin wallet evolved into individual and institutional products to support a blossoming cryptoeconomy. (Two) nerds who met on the internet (yes, Brian Armstrong and I met on Reddit turned into a company of 1000+.
“There was serious hardship. In the 3 years between 2014 and 2017, the outside world thought crypto was dead. Over a third of employees left.”
When trading opens on Wednesday afternoon, Ehrsam’s shares will be worth more than $2 billion and Armstrong’s will top $15 billion.
There are also stories of brutal near misses like Sahil Lavingia’s story.
Lavingia, the CEO and founder of Gumroad, which sells products by creators directly to consumers, shared a story of Armstrong approaching him early on in the Coinbase process to discuss creating the company.
In 2011 with Bitcoin worth roughly a dollar, Lavingia passed on Armstrong’s idea of starting a crypto company together.
Found the original email: “I'm coding on a project in digital currencies right now which I'll be applying to YC with in the next batch.” pic.twitter.com/84TlHKKJYS
— Sahil (@shl) April 14, 2021
Coinbase is expected to open on the Nasdaq at about $360 per share on Wednesday afternoon.
Fittingly, Ehrsam finished his thread with a note to the one who seemingly started it all.
“Thank you Satoshi, whoever you are.”